1

MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF SYSTEM NOISE TEMPERATURE

DISTRIBUTION OF 32 - M NKUTUNSE ANTENNA

Ansah Narh, T., Quaye, C. R., Madjitey, F. T., Adzri, P.

E., Monorh, E. K.

Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI),
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC),
Box AE 1, Atomic Kwabenya, Ghana.

Corresponding Author: T. Ansah-Narh Email: philusnarh@gmail.com Tel: +233 206598572

ABSTRACT

The Nkutunse antenna is a part of a receiving system, which generally consists of a receiver, a
feed line also known as waveguide or transmission line and an antenna. All these system
components have their contribution to the system noise. The system temperature (or the system
noise level) is a critical factor in determining the sensitivity and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
of a receiving system. The performance of a radio telescope system depends very much on the
SNR at the receivers input. Signals must be at some amplitude above the noise floor of the
system in order to be received properly. There is therefore the need to minimize the noise so that
weak signals are not obscured. A mathematical model of the receiving system of the 32-m
diameter Kuntunse antenna was developed to determine the SNR at the receivers input.
MATLAB Version 7.12.0.635 (R2011a) was used to determine the results obtained. The total
brightness noise temperature
( )
B
T emitted on the antenna was modeled to be 589K ~ due to the
contribution of emission of sky and ground noise temperatures when the antenna is being
operated at 0
2
t
u s < and
2
t
u t s s respectively. SNR was found to be greater than one
generating a high signal power than the system noise power. Significantly, the results of the
study would serve as a guide when the antenna is being converted into a Very Long Baseline
Interferometry (VLBI) Radio Astronomy Facility by the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project
team from South Africa. Also, the study would provide invaluable information that would allow
Research Scientists and Technical Engineers to provide useful suggestions to improve the SNR
of the antenna receiving system.


KEYWORDS: System Noise Temperature, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Brightness
Temperature, Waveguide, Receiver.


INTRODUCTION

The 32-m diameter Nkutunse antenna conversion as commissioned in 1981 utilizes a beam-
waveguide (BWG) design as shown in Figure 1. The previous design of the NKutunse antenna
had a receive band of 3.625 - 4.2 GHz which gives a very significant baseline for new numerical
2

estimations of performance through the beam waveguide system such as the design frequency
and at other frequencies performances. These estimates would include the effect of losses in
potential receiver systems with uncooled or cooled (cryogenic) receivers caused by the
microwave components ahead of the first low noise amplifier (LNA).

The antenna output is sent over a feed line also known as a waveguide or transmission line to the
receiver circuits. The lossy feed line will attenuate the signal further and also introduce its own
thermal noise. The output of the feed line is then sent into a low-noise-amplifier (LNA), which
pre-amplifies the signal and introduces only a small amount of thermal noise. The low-noise
nature of the LNA is a critical property of the receiving system. The output of the LNA is then
passed on to the rest of the receiving system, consisting of down converters, IF amplifiers, and so
on. These subsystems will also introduce their own gain factors and thermal noise. Such a
cascade of receiving components is depicted in Figure 2. The sum of all the noises introduced by
these components must be maintained at acceptably low levels (relative to the amplified desired
signal).


Figure 1: BWG antenna in the centerline mode showing focal points f1, f2 and f3.

Source: Ghana Earth Station Manual, 1988


The study seeks to develop a mathematical model of the receiving system of the 32-m diameter
Nkutunse antenna that would be able to determine the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receivers
input.


3







Figure 2: Typical Receiving Antenna System

Source: Balanis, 2005


METHODOLOGY

Antenna Temperature Model at Antenna Terminals

Every object with a physical temperature above absolute zero (0 K = 273C) radiates energy
(Kraus, 1966). According to Cuypers (2001), the temperature associated with the noise at the
terminals of an antenna, is referred to as the antenna temperature. From Figure 2, the amount of
energy emitted is usually represented by an equivalent temperature
B
T , better known as
brightness noise temperature and it is defined as equation 1.
( )
( )
( )
, , 0
2
,
, ,
2
sky
B
g
T f
T f
T f
t
u u
u
t
u u t

s <

=

s s

(1)
where,
B
T = brightness noise temperature (equivalent temperature; K),
sky
T and
g
T denoting sky
and ground noise temperatures respectively.

The Planck Function ( ) B T

in equation 2 is normally used to compute the radiance emitted

from objects that radiate a perfect Black Body. Its inverse was used to find the sky brightness
temperature of an object whose emitted radiance has been measured with a radiometer.
( )
( )
2 5
2
1
hc k T
hc
B T
e

(2)
Receiver
Waveguide
Antenna
4

where,
34
6.63 10 h Js

= Plancks constant,
23
1.38 10 / k J K

= Boltzmanns Constant,
8
3.0 10 / k m s = Speed of light in vacuum, = wave-length of the emitted radiance in (m) and
T =object temperature in (K) to be determined.
Computing the temperature from the observed radiance, results in equation 3.
( )
2 5
1
2
ln 1
sky
hc
T
k
hc
B

=
`
| |

+ |

|
\ . )
(3)
If the emitting object is not a perfect Black Body then the background intensity becomes
equation 4 (Stogryn, 1975).
I B

c = (4)
where, 0 1

c < < is emissivity

The noise temperature due to ground emission and scattering is given by 5 (Xiaoming, 2007).
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 2
1 1
1
g gnd sky
T f T T f u u
(
= I + I

(5)
where, 300
gnd
T K = is a typical value for the physical temperature of the ground ,
1
u t u = is the
incident angle for the incoming wave with respect to the ground. According to Collin (2000),
parallel polarization reflection
( )
1 1
u I and perpendicular polarization
( )
2 1
u I are expressed as
equations 6 and 7 respectively.
( )
( )
( )
1
2 2
1 1
1 1 1
2 2
1 1
sin cos
sin cos
r r
r r
c u c u
u
c u c u

I =
+
(6)
( )
( )
( )
1
2 2
1 1
2 1 1
2 2
1 1
cos sin
cos sin
r
r
u c u
u
u c u

I =
+
(7)
where, emissivity of the ground 3.5
r
c = (dimensionless) .

Therefore, the brightness temperature is modeled as equation 8.

( ) ( ) ( ) ,
B sky g
T f T f T f u = +

(8)

After the ( ) ,
B
T f u in equation (8) incidents at the terminals of the antenna, it is weighted by the
gain pattern of the antenna to form equation (9).
5

( ) ( )
( )
2
0 0
2
0 0
, , sin
, sin
B
A
T f G d d
T
G d d
t t
t t
u u | u u |
u | u u |
=
} }
} }
(9)
where,
( ) , G u | =gain (power) pattern of the antenna
4 Areaof sphere
Areaof antenna pattern
t
u|
= = (radians),
0 u t s s is elevation beamwidth, 0 2 | t s s is azimuth beamwidth and
A
T = antenna
temperature (effective noise temperature of the antenna radiation resistance; K)

Assuming the antenna itself has no loss resistance and therefore, it does not generate noise itself.
Then, its noise power can be measured at its terminals as shown equation 10.
A A
P kT f = A (10)
where,
A
P = antenna noise power (W) and f A = bandwidth (Hz)

For the Nkutunse antenna, dissipation loss and mismatch always exist. Therefore, the antenna
noise temperature at antenna terminal is expressed as equation 11.
( ) ( ) 1
ant A rad ohmic p r
T f T e e T e = + (11)
where, 290
p
T K = is the physical temperature of the antenna,
r
e is mismatch efficiency,
ohmic
e is
ohmic efficiency or dissipation efficiency and
rad r ohmic
e e e = is defined as radiation efficiency
(Kildal, 2000). Hence, its noise power is given as equation 12.
( )
ant ant
P kT f f = A (12)


Antenna Temperature Model at Receiver Terminals

The effective antenna temperature at the receiver terminals (see figure 2) is expressed as
equation 13 (Balanis, 2005).
( ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2
0
1
l l l
a ant AP
T f T f e T e T e
o o o
= + +

(13)
where,
a
T =Antenna temperature at the receiver terminals (K),
ant
T = antenna noise temperature
at the antenna terminals (K),
( )
1
1
A AP p
T T
e
= antenna temperature at the antenna terminals due
to physical temperature (K),
p
T = antenna physical temperature (K), o = attenuation coefficient
of transmission line ( ) Np m ,
A
e = thermal efficiency of antenna (dimensionless), l =length of
waveguide ( ) m ,
0
T = physical temperature of the transmission line (K).

The antenna noise power of equation (12) is modified and written as equation 14.

a a
P kT f = A

(14)

6

where,
a
P = antenna noise power (W), k =Boltzmanns constant
( )
23
1.38 10 / J K

,
a
T =
antenna temperature at the receivers input (K), and f A = bandwidth (Hz).


System Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

Due to thermal noise in the receiver components, the receiver itself has certain noise temperature
r
T ( 47K for Nkutunse antenna), the system noise power at the receiver terminals is related to the
system noise temperature and is expressed as equation 15.
( )
s a r s
P k T T f kT f = + A = A

(15)
where,
s
P =system noise power (at receiver terminals),
a
T =antenna noise temperature (at
receiver terminals),
r
T = receiver noise temperature (at receiver terminals) and
s a r
T T T = + =
effective system noise temperature (at receiver terminals).


The signal noise ratio (SNR) is therefore defined as equation 16.
( )
( )
1
5
2
2
exp 1
.
r
s s
W
C
C T
m m
P
SNR
P kT f W



| |
`
|
(
\ . )
= =

(16)
where,
( )
2 8 4 2
1
2 3.742 10 . C hc W m m t = = ,
4
2
1.439 10 C hc k = = and
s
P is the system
noise power.
The spectral blackbody emissive power
r
P is the amount of radiation energy emitted by a
blackbody at an absolute temperature T per unit time, per unit surface area, and per unit
wavelength to the receiving antenna.


ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

Figure 3.1 clearly shows that the brightness temperature due sky
( )
sky
T increases with a decrease
in radiance emissivity. When emissivity ( )

c = 1, a perfect blackbody is obtained and

sky
T is
estimated to be 290K ~ .
7


Figure 3.1: Sky Noise Temperature at Different Emissivity

In Figure 3.2, due to parallel and perpendicular polarization reflection of radiation, the ground
noise temperature
( )
g
T increases gradually when the antenna is rotating within the range of
0 0
90 120 u s s . A constant temperature of 299K ~ is obtained within the range of
0 0
120 180 u < s . Therefore, the total brightness noise temperature
( )
B
T that incidents on the
antenna
( ) 290 299 589 K K ~ + =


Figure 3.2: Ground Noise Temperature at Different Emissivity
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
S
K
Y

N
O
I
S
E

T
E
M
P
E
R
A
T
U
R
E
/

K
EMISSIVITY OF RADIANCE
A GRAPH OF SKY TEMPERATURE AGAINST EMISSIVITY
90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
G
R
O
U
N
D

N
O
I
S
E

T
E
M
P
E
R
A
T
U
R
E
/

K
ANGLE/ (deg)
A GRAPH OF GROUND TEMPERATURE AGAINST INCIDENT ANGLE
8

The different levels of noise power in Figure 3.3 clearly indicates that, as radiation travels
through the antenna system the noise power increases with increase in frequency. When there is
no resistance in the system the noise power reduces, that is
14
1.6 10 W

~ at
6
4.2 10 Hz . The
system noise power recorded the highest noise
( )
14 6
2.0 10 4.2 10 Wat Hz

~ due to resistance
such as dissipation loss and mismatch in the system.


Figure 3.3: Noise Power at Various Stages of the Antenna System

The results in Figure 3.4 show that the SNR decreases with increase in antenna temperature.
Also, an increase in antenna frequency increases the SNR. The SNR > 1 clearly shows that the
signal power > the system noise power.



.
3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2
x 10
6
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2
x 10
-14
FREQUENCY/ Hz
N
O
I
S
E

P
O
W
E
R
/

W
/
H
z


A GRAPH OF NOISE POWER AGAINST FREQUENCY
No Noise in Ant
Noise in Ant
Noise at Recvr
System Noise
9


Figure 3.4: Signal to - Noise Ratio (SNR)


CONCLUSION

The study reveals that there are mainly two factors that contribute to the brightness temperature:
first, apparent temperature of the background sky seen through the atmosphere, namely cosmic
blackbody radiation (cosmic noise for short) and second, emission and scattering from the
ground or ground noise for short.

Also, the study reveals that for high signal power (i.e. SNR > 1) to be obtained, the antenna
should be operated at frequencies greater than 3.5 GHz. This approach would eventually
minimize the noise so that weak signals are not obscured.

Finally, the study also reveals that there are 3 stages in antenna system, namely antenna, feed
line also known waveguide or transmission line and receiver. These 3 stages have their known
internal resistance and therefore, contribute some level of noise in the system.

A continuation of this study is a model at the Cassegrain focus position, at the Cassegrain focus
with a tertiary angled mirror feeding receivers mounted on the main paraboloid and at the Prime
focus position. These are future possibilities for receiver installations on the Nkutunse antenna.


3.6 3.65 3.7 3.75 3.8 3.85 3.9 3.95 4 4.05
x 10
6
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
x 10
13
FREQUENCY/ Hz
S
N
R


A GRAPH OF SNR AGAINST FREQUENCY
Tsky = 290K
Tg = 299K
Tsky + Tg = 589K
10

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the facilities provided by the Ghana Space Science and Technology
Institute in collaboration with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project team in South Africa.
Also, sincere gratitude goes to Dr. M. Gaylard who is the Managing Director of Hartebeesthoek
Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) under SKA for his immense contribution to the
success of this research.

REFERENCES

Balanis, C. A. (2005). Antenna Theory Analysis and Design, 3
rd
Edition. New Jersey, John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., 106 107.
Collin, R. E. (2000). Foundations for Microwave Engineering, 2
nd
Edition. New Jersey, John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 49 53.
Cuypers, G. (2001). Noise in satellite links. Belgian Microwave roundtable.
http://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/~cuypers/satellite_noise.pdf retrieved on 20
th
June, 2013.
Ghana Earth Station Manual, (1988). Tokyo, Japan, NEC Corporation, A 10.
Kildal, P. S. (2000). Foundations of Antennas: A Unified Approach, Studentlitteratur, Lund.
Kraus, J. D. (1966), Radio Astronomy, McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Stogryn, A. (1975). A note on brightness temperature at millimeter wavelengths, IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience Electronics. Vol. GE-13, pp. 81-84.
Xiaoming, C. (2007). Study of System Noise Temperature from 50 MHz to 15 GHz with
Application to ELEVEN Antenna, Master Thesis at Chalmers University of
Technology, Sweden.